What DL Charles Omenihu brings to the Washington Commanders

Breaking down what the Commanders are getting in new defensive lineman Charles Omenihu

After their initial spending spree in free agency, the Commanders have continued to sign some lower profile players to fill out their roster. One of those players is Charles Omenihu. The 28-year-old Omenihu is heading into his ninth year in the NFL and has notably spent time with the 49ers when Commanders general manager Adam Peters was there, as well as the past three seasons with the Chiefs, where he won a Super Bowl. What makes Omenihu an interesting signing, to me at least, is the profile of player he is.

Omenihu is listed at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds. He has spent most of his career as a 4-3 defensive end, but we’re anticipating the Commanders to switch from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4 base defense. When you look at the other edge defenders that the Commanders have signed, Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson, those two are listed at about 250 pounds, which is significantly lighter than Omenihu. That makes sense because Oweh and Chaisson would be outside linebackers in a 3-4, which requires them to be a bit lighter and more agile so that they can occasionally drop into coverage.

But while Omenihu has spent most of his career on the edge, it appears as though he will be potentially joining Deatrich Wise as slightly undersized 3-4 defensive ends. Both Omenihu and Wise are listed at 280 pounds, which is much closer to a 3-4 defensive end size than a 3-4 outside linebacker size. If you scroll through the Commanders social media pages and find the posts where they announce player signings, you’ll see that both Oweh and Chaisson were listed as outside linebackers (OLB) while Wise and Omenihu were listed as defensive ends (DE). That gives us a hint that this is going to be a 3-4 defense.

In his press conference after signing, Omenihu explained how the team broke down what his role within this defense will be. He gave a detailed answer with plenty of information to digest.

“So they broke it down in the run game and they broke it down in the pass game. It’s been a little while since I’ve been in an under front, so just understanding the advantageous positions I’ll be in, it all just made sense. This is my eighth year in the league so I can quickly understand somebody having a plan and somebody not having a plan. When you do have a plan, that breeds success. So just having a plan in the run game and how it will be a lot of individual one-on-one blocks. How it will be a lot of just, I wouldn’t want to say easy because nothing in the NFL is easy, but where you’re not going to be in a position where you could be not in an advantage. And then in the pass game, rushing inside. I can’t wait, honestly”

There’s a lot to take in there, so let’s break that down into chunks as we piece together the role the Commanders are envisioning for him. First thing of note is the term “under front”. Under fronts aren’t exclusive to either 3-4 or 4-3 defense, but they largely refer to the same thing. In an under front, the defense has their three-technique defensive tackle line up away from the offensive strength. Typically, that means they will have a defensive tackle line up on the outside shoulder of the guard away from the side of the tight end. Here’s a visual example of that from the Vikings defense which new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones coached last year.

This is what a 3-4 under front looks like. You can see the Cowboys have two tight ends to the left side of their formation, which makes that the strength of the formation. The Vikings have three interior lineman on the field here, two 3-4 defensive ends and a nose tackle. They have one defensive end line up head up on the left tackle, which is known as a four-technique, while the nose tackle is tilted or shaded slightly to one side of the center. They then have a three-technique lined up over the outside shoulder of the right guard, away from the tight ends on the left side of the formation.

The Commanders actually used a few under fronts last year too. It’s a front that can be used with both 3-4 and 4-3 personnel pretty interchangeably. Daronte Jones, like every new defensive coordinator, talks about wanting his defense to be multiple and not giving it a label of 3-4 or 4-3. This next picture will show you why he avoids those labels and how versatile a front can be.

This is an example of a Commanders under front from last season. The Raiders have their tight end aligned to the left of the formation, so the Commanders shift their front away from him. Instead of a four-technique straight up on the left tackle, they shift him slightly inside into what’s known as a 4i. The nose tackle lines up head up on the center rather than tilted or shaded either side, and the three-technique lines up on the outside shoulder of the right guard (you could argue he’s also a 4i but he’s tilted inside towards the guard so I’m calling him a three-technique for now). It’s not quite the same front, but it’s similar.

The interesting thing with the Commanders version of this under front is that they get to it from a 4-2 nickel package rather than a 3-4 base package like we saw in the Vikings version. While the Vikings have a bigger interior defensive lineman playing the four-technique, the Commanders have defensive end Dorance Armstrong shift inside to play the 4i in their front. With Armstrong shifting inside, linebacker Frankie Luvu walks down to replace him on the edge. This is how 4-3 defenses can get into 3-4 looks. They shift unto an under front and walk down their Sam (strong side) linebacker onto the edge. The famous Seattle Seahawks defense that Dan Quinn coached was typically in a 4-3 under front most of the time.

I think the Commanders will use the Vikings version of a 3-4 under front more often, but when you have versatile linebackers like Luvu and new signing Leo Chenal, that offers the flexibility to play in a 4-3 defense and have one of Luvu or Chenal walk down to the edge and make it into a 4-3 under front just as easily. That is probably why Jones doesn’t want to put a label on it, because he can get to a similar front in a variety of ways due to having versatile personnel.

While all of this is very interesting in regards to the wider picture of what the Commanders defense will look like next year, what does it mean for Charles Omenihu, exactly? Well, at 280 pounds, Omenihu has more size than say a Dorance Armstrong, who is listed at 255 pounds. When you shift the front like this and a 4-3 defensive end shifts inside, they can often be overmatched by the bigger bodies on the interior. If they line up as a four-technique over the tackle, a 4i on the inside shoulder of the tackle, or even a three-technique on the outside shoulder of the guard, having a bigger frame should help them withstand the different types of blockers they would be getting inside compared to on the edge.

That extra bulk should help Omenihu, and indeed Wise, hold up better against the run in those particular situations. You might wonder why not just use a bigger defensive lineman used to playing on the interior. Well, the Commanders certainly can do that. They have plenty of bigger interior defensive lineman that could do those roles, like Daron Payne, Javon Kinlaw, Johnny Newton and even new signing Tim Settle. But the advantage of having guys like Wise and Omenihu at a slightly lighter weight comes in the form of pass rush.

This brings us to the next thing of note that Omenihu mentioned. “In the passing game, rushing inside. I can’t wait, honestly”. By shifting inside, Omenihu will get to work against interior offensive lineman, who are typically more powerful than offensive tackles on the edge, but far less agile. At 280 pounds, Omenihu isn’t going to threaten most offensive tackles with speed on the edge, but shift him inside and he can really challenge the athletic ability of most guards.

On this play, Omenihu lines up almost head up over the right tackle, but he’s clearly working inside against the right guard. At the snap, he bursts up the field and senses the guard eager to cut off the threat of speed to the edge. The guard looks to be aggressive and get his hands on Omenihu early, but Omenihu counters with a nice side swipe, which knocks the guard’s hands away immediately. That clears a path to the edge and Omenihu takes it. He gets hip level in a hurry and while some offensive tackles can recover from that spot, most guards don’t have the athleticism to do so. Omenihu breaks through and chases down the quarterback, forcing him into a hurried throw that ends up falling short of its target and being deflected up for an interception.

As a veteran in the league. Omenihu has developed a nice set of pass rush moves which are particularly effective when he rushes from the inside. We just saw a nice side swipe against the Jags right guard, but later in the game he shifted to the other side and used another move.